Who is Tia Clayton? Everything about the Jamaican sprinter who could be a threat to Sha'Carri Richardson's gold ambitions at Paris Olympics

By Abhishek Rathore

Modified Aug 02, 2024 16:44 GMT

Preliminary rounds of track and field at the Paris Olympics have started, and team Jamaica is being represented by three sprinters in the women's 100m category, including 19-year-old prodigy Tia Clayton.

Clayton made waves on Friday after she advanced to the next round of the Paris Olympics at blistering speed, and is considered one of the threats to reigning 100m world champion Sha'Carri Richardson's first Olympic crown. She placed second with a time of 11 seconds in Heat 4 of the women's 100m event and was just 0.05 seconds behind Audrey Leduc of Canada, who won the race. She achieved an average speed of 1.2 m/s despite running with a strapped-up hamstring on her right leg.

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Tia Clayton has defeated Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the Paris Olympics (Image Source: Getty)

Tia Clayton made headlines during the 2024 Jamaican Olympic trials, where she finished second behind Shericka Jackson with a time of 10.90 seconds to qualify for her first Olympic Games. In the meantime, she also defeated eight-time Olympic medalist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who secured third place after clocking a time of 10.94 seconds. Tia Clayton also recorded her personal best time of 10.86 seconds during the semi-finals of the same competition.

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She has a twin sister who is also a champion sprinter

Tia Clayton has a twin sister, Tina Clayton, who won 100m and 4 × 100m relay titles at the World Athletics U20 Championships in 2021 and 2022. Both Tia and Tina were part of the team that shattered the world under-20 records in relay events at the aforementioned competition. Tia ran the anchor leg, while Tina took on the responsibility of running the second leg during their record-breaking triumph in 2021 and 2022. Talking about her twin sister and her Paris Olympics aspirations, Tina stated (as quoted by the Jamaica-Gleaner):

"(I want her) to get to the final (and) after that any card can play."

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A brief look look at Tia Clayton's career so far

Clayton has been a force to be reckoned with in the youth competitions she has taken part in. She won the 100m finals at the U18 National Championships two times, in 2018 and 2019, consecutively. Furthermore, the young athlete also won two gold medals in the 4×100m relay in 2021 and 2022 at the World U20 Championships. She is a two-time medalist at the U20 CARIFTA Games, where she bagged a gold in the 4×100 m relay and a silver in the 100 m in 2022. She is now anticipated to be one of Jamaica's 100m and 4x100m title hopefuls at the Paris Olympics 2024.